


Tanki Wala Love

by Enigma3000



Category: Panchayat, TVF Panchayat, aru fandom
Genre: Boys In Love, Denial, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Humor, I hope you like it, M/M, One Shot, Short One Shot, and the most batshit insane, boomer i know and love, happy birthday aru, i cannot believe you made me do this, mlm, most talented, ok now for the actual tags, you deserve all the good things life could possibly offer, you're the sweetest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25874620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigma3000/pseuds/Enigma3000
Summary: Drunk confessions :)
Relationships: Abhishek Tripathi/Vikas, aru/being a boomer, me/crackheadery
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	Tanki Wala Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orange_cow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orange_cow/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARU!!! i didn't want to wish you until i had your present ready, but now that it is, here we go.
> 
> We haven't even been friends that long, but honestly considering how close we are already, if someone had to guess they're probably say we've been friends for years. and i love it that way. being friends with you is one of the reasons i'm glad i made the switch from tumblr to instagram, and lost touch with about 34987 people in the process. but yknow what, worth it. You're a legal adult now, which i'm pretty sure should be illegal because you're like. eight. i refuse to believe you're 18. boomer.
> 
> anyway, have the best possible day, you're the coolest, most irritating Apar-Blessed wife one could ask for. 
> 
> -shubhmangalzyadasaavdhanmemes

The metal cap of unopened bottle glinted under the solar light, almost mocking Abhishek for being unable to open it. He tried, and failed, and tried again, and failed again. He was about to try a third time, and would have failed once more, had Vikas not taken the bottle opener from his hands and opened their last bottle himself.

_Rude,_ Abhishek thought. 

Yes, he was a lightweight, and yes, his vision and fingers were apparently already too unstable to get the top off the bottle himself. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t have done it at all. Perhaps the third time could have been the charm.

Now they would never know.

Vikas handed the bottle back to him, then walked away to sit on the carpet they had spread in the middle of the office

“Wahan kyun baithe ho, yahan aao na?”

Abhishek looked up. He had intended to sit on the floor, yes. Why wouldn’t he want to sit close to Vikas?

But apparently, amidst the haze of alcohol running through his veins (which wasn’t even a lot, really, by god this man was a lightweight) he had somehow ended up seating himself on his chair. A wheeled one, lowered just about enough for his feet to touch the ground. It had been Vikas’ gift. For his birthday. 

While everyone else had invited home for dinner, or gifted him a bottle gourd, or had just forgotten entirely- Vikas had remembered. Both the birthday, and the ill-fated little chair he had lost because of some asshole groom. And he had replaced it, without ever being asked. It was, without a doubt, his favourite place to sit in the entire village. Possibly the world.

This chair had his name painted in the back too. Small, golden letters in the upper right corner branding the chair as his. 

A sweet, thoughtful gesture, the likes of which Abhishek had long since stopped expecting from anyone.

But then again, this was Vikas. 

Sweet was his middle name.

“Fine, I’ll just come over there,” Vikas laughed, and Abhishek felt an involuntary smile creep onto his face. And then suppressed it immediately (tried to, at least, no part of his body seemed to be cooperating with him).

_God, this was not ideal._

He watched Vikas come closer, expected him to drag the old, neglected plastic chair that sat in a corner to seat himself at the table, opposite to Abhishek. He did none of those things, however, and came even closer than anticipated. Not that Abhishek was complaining, of course. Far from it, really. He swallowed nothing in particular, and tried to ignore the flush in his face when Vikas leaned against his desk, tried to ignore the way his heart seemed to take on a life of its own when he sat himself down. Abhishek momentarily considered wheeling himself a few inches away, but then decided that would probably offend his friend.

_Friend_ , Abhishek grimaced.

Vikas took another swig from his bottle. If Abhishek hadn’t been far too busy looking down at his feet, he may even have noticed the way Vikas was gazing at him from over the rim.

“You’re a goddamn lightweight, you know.”

Abhishek looked up at him. The sheer offense etched into his face reminded Vikas of the time he had screamed at Vikas for no fault of his. Not that it was a bad memory, heavens no. He briefly found himself wondering if (hoping that) Abhishek would yell again, he was at his peak when he was angry past the point of keeping his impulses in check.

“I- what-” he didn’t yell, “how dare-”

“I’m one bottle over you, and I can barely even feel the buzz.”

Abhishek scoffed.

“Maybe you’re just- you-” What was the word? High tolerance? No, that wasn’t it. (it was).

“You’re just… good at drinking.”

Vikas laughed.

“Good at WHAT?”

“DRINKING, YOU KNOW, YOU DRINK A LOT BUT YOU DON’T-” he scratched at his temple, “what’s the word- you don’t-”

Abhishek was well aware that he was being laughed at, but he found that he didn’t mind. And he hated being laughed at by anyone, it made him feel small. And for a man of his stature, feeling small on top of being small sent him into a blind rage.

But Vikas wasn’t just anyone.

He was Abhishek’s friend, perhaps even his best friend. He had stuck by Abhishek, stayed through the frankly embarrassing self-pity phase, put up with every misdirected taunt and raise of his voice, simply because he cared. Because he saw Abhishek as more than just a coworker. Wanted him to feel at home in a place where everything was new and different. Even if it came at the cost of bearing the brunt of Abhishek’s frustration, sometimes.

_How do you not fall for someone like that?_

He remembered the exact moment it happened. On the water tank, the day he met sachiv ji’s daughter. She was pretty, he may have well considered courting her like her father so obviously wished for him to do. 

But he had made the mistake of looking over the edge at the life below, caught sight of Vikas waving at him with the same kind of goofy smile he always had on his face (Abhishek couldn’t see it from all the way up there. He just knew).

Vikas had been right, after all. He did fall in love with the village just then. Or a part of it, anyway.

Abhishek felt his bottle gently being pulled out of his hands, and looked up in indignation.

“Rehne do aap, you’ve had more than enough.”

The blush that crept onto his face went unseen in the late-evening darkness.

They passed the next few minutes in a comfortable silence, Abhishek nervously picking at the protruding nail on his table. Vikas closely regarded the contents of his bottle, absently wondering if he was, in fact, just good at drinking. Or more accurately, if Abhishek was just that bad. 

It wouldn’t be the first thing he was bad at. 

But as far as Vikas was concerned, it was.

He took one last swig before putting the empty bottle down, right alongside Abhishek’s mostly full one. It was too pleasant a moment, too picturesque to exist, and Abhishek half expected his phone to ring and ruin it all. It always rang at the worst possible times.

And it was rarely ever Vikas on the other side, so that just made everything more frustrating.

The moment wasn’t ruined, however. Until Abhishek decided to break the silence himself.

It was a comfortable silence, sure, but Abhishek liked the sound of Vikas’ voice a lot more.

“Are you…”

Vikas looked at him.

“Is there another girl in your life? Found anyone else yet?”

Vikas’ engagement had unraveled fast, a month or so ago. Something about him no longer having feelings for her, or something. “I don’t know, just didn’t feel fair to her,” he had said, when sachiv ji had asked once.

He didn’t know why he was asking that question. He knew the answer would be a yes. He knew the answer would leave him reaching for his bottle yet again, but Abhishek asked anyway. Maybe there was some small part of him that still held hope. Meaningless, child-like hope that couldn’t possibly be rewarded.

Vikas was the most eligible bachelor around, even more so than Abhishek himself. Of course there would be a girl. Maybe even three-

“No,” Vikas smiled rufeully, “not yet, not for a long time, i think.”

Abhishek blinked, somehow managing to successfully suppress his overly enthused smile this time.

“Why not?” he pinched his leg to keep his face from betraying him.

_Get it together, Tripathi._

Vikas took in a deep breath, stretched his shoulders upward like a very tired cat, and sighed. He didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to explain to this man that he was the reason Vikas had once again adopted the life of a bachelor. It was pointless to do so anyway, Abhishek was betrothed to rinky. Perhaps not officially, as of yet, but he was.

“No reason.”

“Someone else on your mind?”

_Yes._

“No, no, nothing like that,” he waved his hand dismissively.

“What about you, though? How is it going with rinky?”

Abhishek barely registered the question, still having trouble processing the fact that Vikas was, effectively, completely devoid of a romantic, or even a potential romantic relationship. The thought was so unexpected (he was always surprising Abhishek, wasn’t he?) so fantastic that Abhishek let his guard down and ended up staring into Vikas’ face.

Not at his eyes, though.

“Abhishek?”

His eyes flicked back up.

Crap.

He couldn’t have noticed that, could he? He couldn’t have noticed Abhishek unashamedly staring at his lips- god, this was so embarrassing- There was still hope for his dignity, there had to be.

There wasn’t.

Vikas had caught him.

There was no doubt about it. He had considered it to be a trick of the light, or a mistake brought about by the prevalent darkness, or something. The alternative was just too good to be true.

His heart didn’t dare make another move until he could be sure.

“How is it going with her?”

Vikas already knew the answer.

But he needed to hear it anyway.

“Nothing, we’re not-” he gulped “I don’t like- I mean she’s nice, and i did, at some point, think i would- but no, no, i-”

He trailed off, realising with a skip of his heart beat that Vikas was returning the favour from a minute ago; staring at Abhishek’s lips like he couldn’t be bothered to look elsewhere. Abhishek felt his breath catch in his throat.

The silence that came over the room was not unwelcome, but it was far, far from comfortable. He considered, for a second, simply shoving his chair away from the table, getting up and booting it out of there to pretend none of this ever happened. But his feet were rooted to the ground. Or that’s what it felt like, anyway.

He could admit to it. Admit to the quiet glances, the nights spent lying awake in bed, the pages of his textbooks he had to re-read twice because his mind simply wouldn’t cooperate. He could admit to the way he spent every day yearning to call Vikas his, but his words had failed him.

There was but one thing left to do.

One terrifying, possibly terrible thing.

But he could just blame it on the fact that he was drunk, right? He could just apologise and swear alcohol off forever, right?

All it took was for him to raise himself off his seat, just a little. Just enough to close the distance between them. It was simple enough, though the consequences could be disastrous-

No.

He was going to do it.

Abhishek placed his hands firmly on either armrest, clenched it tight to begin pushing himself up, and-

Vikas was leaning in before he had the chance.

He placed his hands on either side of his face, dragged him in even closer somehow, and simply smiled into Abhishek’s smile. All he had been wishing for, condensed into one moment that was almost too much for him, an overwhelmingly sudden twist in their tale. But a much needed one, no doubt.

Abhishek sighed, put his fingers in his hair where they had longed to be for far too many days now, and let the world melt away. 

_Perhaps this village wasn’t so bad after all._


End file.
